FRANCESCO ZUGNO (Venice, 1709 - 1787) Sketch depicting Saint Anthony with Child Oil on canvas, 49.5X29 cm Francesco Zugno expressed true expressive autonomy with results of remarkable quality, although the influence of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, with whom he collaborated between 1730 and 1737 after his years of apprenticeship in the family workshop and at the Venetian Academy of Painting and Sculpture, was predominant. This is well demonstrated by the paintings he executed for the Church of San Lazzaro degli Armeni and in particular the sketch presented here, which also shows Veronese suggestions of Cignaroli and the best examples of the early 18th century Veneto. It was in fact Alessandro Longhi who highlighted the artist's culture, aware of a recovery of Veronese perspective visions, but observing the Pala di Sant'Antonio Abate from the same complex and datable to the 1940s, one can see in the direction of the light and brushstrokes an awareness of the modes of Pittoni and Fontebasso and a study of the mimicry of the eyes and gestures that we find in the Sacra Famiglia and Sant'Antonio in the Museo Sartorio in Trieste. Reference bibliography: G. M. Pilo, Francesco Zugno, in Saggi e memorie di storia dell'arte, vol. 2 (1958-1959), pp. 323, 325-378 R. Pallucchini, La Pittura nel Veneto. Il Settecento, Milan 1996, II, pp. 201-218, figs. 292-324